DHS - Mutant Division

Wait, we're breaking INTO prison?

Yes. Yes, we are. Seems that the DHS has lost contact with a SuperMax prison in Colorado. This prison houses several of the hostile mutants our team had captured, as well as several captured in other parts of the country by other DHS Mutant teams. We flew to the site via our private jet (it’s very Criminal Minds, really). We had codes that would allow us access to the prison, but once we were inside, we would be unable to leave again without coming under fire from the automated gun turrets until and unless we captured the prison’s interior control room. This has ‘clusterfuck’ written all over it. We few, we happy few. We band of buggered.

We arrived and approached the prison entrance, only to have the automated guns fire on us. We were not expecting this. Fortunately, Agent Carlson was the only one hit, and he wasn’t badly hurt. Agent Loiaza ran for the wall under (and out of the arc of fire) of one of the gun turrets and opened a doorway through the wall. Agent Harris ran for the entrance and punched in the entry code. The doors opened, revealing a small courtyard and the inner doors. Agent Carlson, invisible now, punched in the code at the inner door—and the outer doors closed in Agent Harris’ face. (It works like an airlock. Both sets of doors cannot open simultaneously.

We worked our way through the airlock-like entrance, while Loiaza and another agent entered through her makeshift door. All of the prison staff and a number of the prisoners were already dead, killed by person or persons unknown. The cells, built into the ground like chemical weapon storage bunkers, were all open. Some had been smashed, torn, or blasted open. We were almost immediately attacked by the free (and hostile) prisoners—at least, those still alive.

The skirmish went on for some time, before we managed to defeat the prisoners. Agent Carlson contributed most to this effort. He is really quite remarkably adept at hand to hand combat. After we had defeated the prisoners, Agent Loiaza made an executive decision (over my strenuous objections, but backed up by the rest of the team) to terminate them. They were quickly dispatched.

We then had to enter the main building, and access the computer in the control room. This proved difficult, as the corridor was defended by a very lethal electrical weapons system. Agent Sheehan teleported (line of sight) to the entrance of the control room, thereby evading the electrical weapons, taking Agent Carlson with him. There, Carlson confronted an unidentified woman who clearly knew him (and vice versa), and who had apparently arranged this whole scenario to lure him into her presence. She wanted to kill him. Having spent time in his presence, I can understand the impulse. Nonetheless, that couldn’t be allowed. She fought with him—with all of us, briefly, then escaped after being disarmed.

She left us a going-away present in the form of a self-destruct system counting down to detonation. Working together, we were able to shut it down with seconds to spare. Go us! We returned triumphantly to Seattle, there to await our next mission.

A Taste Of Our Own Medicine

The STRIKE team were sent to Hayden, Idaho to recruit a mutant named Jonathan James, suspected of being a very powerful cyberpath. DHS Recruiter Jeff Thompson, a nat, was assigned to accompany us to oversee his recruitment. This was occasioned by Agent Lance’s (in my estimation, willful) misunderstanding of the meaning of “recruitment.”

We flew to the nearest airfield and rented a van for the trip to Hayden. Satellite imagery showed no activity in the town for over a week. As we entered the area, Thompson began to show signs of mental influence—hallucinating about music and then falling into a sleep from which he could be awakened until we retreated out of the area. We left him behind with orders to notify DHS about the effect, which appeared to have no affect on mutants. Agent Harris instructed everyone on the team to remove the batteries from their cell phones, lest the rogue cyberpath use them to track or eavesdrop on us.

We stopped the van some blocks from the suspect’s home so we wouldn’t be heard approaching. We finished the trip on foot. Agents Harris and Lance were ambushed by a flying mutant (hereinafter “Banshee”) who could project powerful sonic effects. Agent Carlson remained undetected. Harris was briefly rendered unconscious, then played “dead” when Banshe landed and carried her around to the rear of the house. When Banshee left to retrieve Lance, Harris took Banshee’s form and briefly investigated the interior of the house. She spotted James in the kitchen, working with several laptops, under the apparent mental influence of a bow-wielding psychic (hereinafter “Bitch”).

Agent Carlson, meanwhile, ambushed and neutralized Banshee with his invisibility and super-karate attack. The STRIKE team conferred briefly. Then Carlson slipped into the house thru a window in another room. Agents Harris and Lance attacked from the rear, via the sliding glass door. Bitch responded with a mental attack that deafened and blinded everyone. Carlson retreated to a hallway, out of sight of the psychic, and soon regained his senses.

Harris and Lance were repeatedly assaulted mentally, remaining blind and deaf while they tried to escape and/or find and neutralize Bitch. Agent Harris found and took the form of James, then led him out of the house. This made it more difficult for Bitch to know which of them was Harris (as intended), but was not entirely successful.

Eventually, Carlson was able to ambush and neutralize Bitch while she was busy attacking Harris and James (Lance had moved out of her sight around a corner of the house). Agent Harris regrets that she lost her temper and kicked Bitch repeatedly in the ribs when she was down. She also slapped Agent Lance more than once for being too quick to employ his Flash Attack in close quarters, thereby blinding Agent Harris (and other team mates) in the process.

Upon our return to base, Agent Carlson was sent to mandatory sensitivity training. As the session was confidential, Agent Harris in unaware of what went on. It does, however, appear to have been remarkably effective in curbing Agent Carlson’s more obnoxious sexist behaviors.

Native American Mutant

The STRIKE Team took refuge in the ranger station and waited for the oncoming assault. It turned out to be less overwhelming than initially feared. A single Native American with the ability to conjure an illusory werewolf-type monster. It could do damage when it attacked, but had no substance of its own.

Three of the DHS agents left the building to confront the monster before we discovered this truth. Agents Harris and Loiaza remained in the building with the unconscious “werewolf” mutant. A game of hide and seek followed, as the attacking mutant attempted to mislead and ambush the DHS agents before he was finally located and neutralized. The remaining attackers, howling in the distance, turned out to be another illusion. There was only the one attacker.

With both captives secured, the team returned to Seattle for debriefing and a briefing on the next mission. Agent Harris did a lot of paperwork, and approved numerous expense and equipment requests. How else can she stay in five star hotels when the rest of the team are lanquishing in Best Westerns or the like? How else can she fly first class when the team flies commercial, instead of business class with the rest of the team.

Special Agent in Charge Tim Drake, and the DHS in general, are oddly reluctant to provide the team with non-lethal weapons. The agency’s argument, apparently, is that our mutant abilities should be sufficient for taking captives alive. I submitted several requests for non-lethal weapons and was rebuffed, but on the other hand, we’re free to arm ourselves with standard firearms. And so Agent Khan and Agent Harris received MP-5 submachineguns.

The DHS has been investigating a mutant named: Jonathan James; online handle: c0mrade
Two different recruiting agents have already been sent in a week ago with no word. The local authorities cannot be reached nor do satellite images pick up any movement within the city – cars are parking in the same location, no traffic on roadways. All phone lines go busy when attempting to contact people of this city.

Your mission is to investigate Hayden, Idaho with the additional task of recruiting Jonathan James who we believe is still located here.

License to Kill?

The action resumed from last week, with Agent Carlson taking down the suspected mutant menace in a grapple hold. The suspect responded by trying to strike Carlson with a telekinetically-controlled sofa, forcing him to release the suspect. Myself and Agent Arcos entered the apartment. Agent Arcos shot the suspect in the leg, wounding him severely. An ambulance was called, the suspect was arrested, treated, and transported to a holding facility.

The next day, SAC Drake complimented the team on their first successful mission. He also appointed Agent Loiaza as the team leader based on her initiative. The team’s next mission was to fly down to Northern California to look into some goings-on in the forest, where people had been attacked by some kind of creature, variously described as a large wolf, a bear, or a werewolf.

The flight down to California was interrupted by the sudden appearance in the main cabin of a shadowy figure which attacked several passengers. The team responded by trying to capture or incapacitate the creature, which proved to be intangible (though capable of striking others nonetheless). Eventually it was determined that the “creature” was merely a projection of a pre-teen female passenger. She proved to be tougher than she looked, and capable of projecting shadowy blades or knives in an area around herself. When all else failed, Agent Carlson got clearance from Agent Loiaza to employ his own special ability. He subdued the girl with a single blow, doing near fatal damage to her.

The plane made an emergency landing and the DHS agents assumed control, directing the local authorities while passengers and crew were debriefed and the young girl was handed over to other DHS agents for holding in a secure facility. Afterward, the team completed their journey, meeting a local forest ranger, Ranger Gonzalaz.

The Ranger led the team to the area where the creature had been seen and had left clawmarks in a tree. While they were investigating, the creature attacked the group. It proved to be fast, strong, and highly bullet-resistant. Agent Arcos employed his Flash power to neutralize the beast while Agent Loiaza created a pit several meters deep with her own power to contain the beast. When it calmed (slightly), they discovered that it was a Native American who hated the white population who were “desecrating” the land.

Once again, Agent Carlson was called upon to inflict enough damage in hand-to-hand combat to take out the suspect, but not before he howled (we believe) in order to summon allies. The team carried the unconscious suspect back to the Ranger Station from which they’d started. As they arrived at the station, howls from presumed allies of the suspect could be heard approaching. The team began planning how defend their position against the coming attack.

Addendum 1: It has become clear to us that our training was lacking in several key respects. None of us, save Agent Sheehan, have any first aid training. Nor any hand-to-hand training, save what we may have learned on our own. Furthermore, these three interactions with mutant opponents have made it clear that we desperately need non-lethal means of subduing individuals with more-than-human abilities. Lacking same, our only recourse when an ordinary arrest proves impossible due to superhuman strength or other abilities, is lethal force. We would prefer to have options other than killing any threat we encounter. Agent Loiaza has put in a request for additional tools, such as tasers or some other similar device, as well clarification on the DHSSTRIKE team’s Use of Force protocols.

Addendum 2: Agent Loiaza announced her intent to send Agent Carlson to repeat his mandatory Sensitivity Training. I concur in this assessment.

Following five months of training, the new STRIKE team (the first class of actual mutant agents) relocated to Seattle. Special Agent-in-Charge Tim Drake gave them their first assignment.

A two-mile stretch of road had been deemed cursed after 13 major accidents—all unexplained—occurred over the past 6 months, 2 of them deadly. The deadly accidents both involved police officers.

The team investigated the area. Agent Loiaza was first on the scene, followed closely by the others. Agent Loiaza worked alone at first, but was eventually joined by other agents. Separately or together, the group questioned witnesses at a local bank, fast food franchise, a nearby apartment complex, and other locations. Agent Harris investigated some of the crashed vehicles at a local wrecking yard to rule out mechanical problems as a cause. Agent Loiaza determined that the actual section of road on which all the accidents occurred was only half a mile long. Agent Harris determined that the only place from which the entire stretch of road was visible were the apartments facing the road in a single apartment complex nearby, and that all the accidents occurred between 6:30 and 10:30 p.m. on weekdays, save for one on a Sunday.

It seemed likely that a resident of the apartment complex with a regular work schedule could be responsible. The team investigated, questioning some residents and surreptitiously investigating some empty apartments. One of the “persons of interest” was Phil Tanner, a plumber. Interviews with a neighbor and exploration of his apartment revealed that he is a NASCAR fan and enjoys watching car crashes. They also learned that his license was revoked due to a DUI and that he has a newfound hatred of the authorities.

The team staked out his apartment complex. Agent Sheehan drove a vehicle noisily back and forth on the street with the police lights flashing. The team witnessed Tanner appear in the window of his apartment to scowl at the vehicle—at which point Sheehan lost control of the vehicle, which crashed into a nearby building. (Sheehan teleported to safety and was unhurt.)

With this evidence of a mutant telekinetic power to cause crashes on the street in front of his apartment, Agent (Darris) called for the team to take Tanner down. Agent Carlson was the first one through the door (after kicking it open)….

(The game session ended early, in mid-combat. We’ll continue next week.)

Within the past 10 years (estimated) people have been discovering mutant powers they possess all over the world. A majority of mutant powers have manfested within a person in there late adolescence years. It is believed that by the end of the year almost 2% of the worlds popuplation will have some form of mutant power. Why this has occurred is still unknown by the scientists.

S.T.R.I.K.E. (Special Tactical Response for International Key Emergencies), a division of Department of Homeland Security has recently gone into effect. Its primary purpose is to protect the United States against mutant terrorist.

Congradulations! You are one of the few that have just graduated STRIKE.
You and the other 38 newly STRIKE agents will be lead by Special Agent-in-Charge (SAC): Tim Drake
The STRIKE division is lead by Deputy Director: William Craig Fugate (previously an Administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency).

Your assignment will be given out once you have been relocated at the old INS building in Seattle.